Through the Inferno
by xfirexfalconx
Summary: Rubeus is left for dead, broken and betrayed by the family he served. The mysterious girl who walks through fire, running from her past...and her destiny...could be his greatest enemy. Or could it be that she is something far different...? Please R&R.
1. Left Behind

---Little tune plays from a moon shaped locket...locket is promptly shot. A gun cocks, and the camera pans to a smiling authoress.--- Hello! Welcome to my fanfiction. A general disclaimer: I do not own Sailor Moon, because if I did, Chibi Usa would not have existed. The only character that is mine is Miera, so keep you grubby SM obsessed mits off her. Thanks! ---A poof of smoke, and the story continues.---

Miera's eyes snapped open as she lurched into a sitting position, coughing wildly. It was almost as if she could taste the smoke from her dreams, as if the flames still surrounded her. A flashback of her past? Of her parents...? Tears threatened her, and she took a few deep breaths. No...not her parents. Not a flashback. This was something else...

Sliding from her bed, she padded barefoot across the tatami mats, the moonlight shimmering off her blue, silk kimono-like pajamas. Tying her long, black hair into a braid, her emerald eyes gazed out the window, past the thing clouds, the sky and stars, into space. Something was wrong, she could feel it in her mind. One hand touched her forehead, just above the area between her eyes, to a small white scar. The other hand touched the smooth surface of a crystal, which lay on her windowsill. The black stone glinted, and Miera turned, grabbing it and heading towards the door.

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"EMERALD!"

The tall woman waved her red fan, a smug grin across her face. "Sickening failure. I don't know why you were even one of us...You're just a pathetic traitor to the cause. Now, you will die a traitor's death, like the worthless mongrel you are!"

Rubeus watched miserably as his last hope faded away with a wild, insanely laugh...a triumphant laugh. Mocking him even after it was gone. He tried to find the power to stand, but through either fatigue or hopelessness...he would admit to neither...it was impossible. All that he could do was wait the inevitable.

"30 seconds until self-destruction," the robotic voice of the spaceship informed, telling him how much time he had left in this life. Even the stupid machines were taunting him.

So much for trying to obtain the Impyrium Crystal. So much for destroying the Sailor Senshi, and rising up through the snobbish, self-rightous views of his Prince. Of course, they could never see his potential; they couldn't see past their noses. A bitter flame of hatred stirred in his soul, matching the canabalistic inferno that waited to consume his flesh. The things he could have done...If only he hadn't been so obsessed with pleasing Wiseman. Briefly, he wondered if this is how his Four Sisters felt, and he mourned ever treating them poorly. _How sorry one feels when the Wheel of Fortunae turns, _he thought, closing his eyes.

"20 seconds until self-destruction."

The flames were even closer. He barely cried out when a pacth of fire flared, searing through his clothing and lashing across his right arm and face like a spitting snake. The skin crackled and he finally let out a whimper, crawling back from the fire. There was nowhere to run...his back pressed against a wall. Battered, beaten, and burned. Rubeus shuddered, pain finally swelling his senses. Death would be a gift...


	2. Trust Me

"15 seconds until self-destruction."

"F-cking hurry up," he muttered through cracked, bleeding lips. Why did he make the self-destruction sequences so long? His sight blacked out for a moment, air slowly being replaced by smoke in his lungs. He wondered if he would feel the explosion, but as conciousness began to slip, figured he'd be out by then with any luck at all. The small bare spot of floor that was his refuge kept shrinking, the ravaging flames eating more of the ship by the second.

"13 seconds until self-destruction."

Meira heard this as her feet touched the smooth, red-hot floors, her boots clicking on the surface softly. Raising her head, she stared at the flames which surrounded her. Her hands went out, and the fire parted like water, moving from her path. She lowered her arms and walked boldly foreward, eyes narrowed slightly. Her aqua kimono seemed inappropriate for such a hellish scene, fluttering around her in a supernatural wind as she searched. The cat-like intensity of her gaze flickered about, until she found her target.

Rubeus raised his head, sensing something. A presence...? Doubt flashed through his mind, his spirit numbed to any spark of hope. But what he saw next snapped unconciousness to the side...a girl, walking through the fire. The two's eyes met and locked, and in seconds she was kneeled before him.

"Can you hear me?" she asked calmly. Too calmly.

"Of course!" he rasped, vision clouding again. "I'm dying, not deaf."

The girl chuckled slightly. "You won't die," Miera assured, standing and holding out her hands. "Up."

"I can't..."

"I SAID, UP!"

At this barked command, he stirred, reaching out to grasp her wrists. Rubeus was sure he would have pulled her over, but she held sure, her iron-strength surprising him. A hint of a smile twitched at her mouth, one hand moving to steady him as the other brought out something from her pocket.

Ruebus looked at the midnight-colored crystal. "What--"

"7..." the robot droned.

"I'll explain later," she said hurridly. Miera felt a stirr of panic at the countdown. The crystal began to pulse, and she focused on her energy. "You have to trust me, for now, if you want to survive."

"6..."

"I don't even know you," he replied.

"5..."

Her hand grabbed his, and she touched his fingertips to her temple. Ruebus blinked rapidly, images suddenly filling his mind. The girl was Miera, and she loved cats. Her parents were dead, and she was a...His hand flew back from her skin, shocked.

"WHAAAAAAT!"

"4..."

Miera grimaced. "Now you know me...Do you really want to die?" she whispered, eyes reflecting a hint of fear. "I don't think you do, and I certainly don't. So either trust me, or we both perish."

_She...is risking her life, _he murmured to himself. _Even if..._

"3..."

Rubeus closed his eyes again, choking back a mix of self-loathing and hatred. "Do what you have to do," he sighed, wincing as she touched his charred arm.

"2..."

Her voice sprung from her lips, a chant that vibrated through her body and seemed to engulf them both. The crystal began to flicker and flash a deep blue, swirls of energy rising from the ground and around them to form an orb. A crack formed in the floor, and fire flooded the room. Her green eyes widened slightly, but she kept the chant and the orb began to solidify.

"...1."

A loud roar drowned her voice as the ship exploded, the two suddenly clinging to one another as the floor imploded under them, stone and flames smashing down. Another explosion, and Miera could barely see through several blinding flashes of light a huge chunk of metal fly at them, before hearing a sickening crack and a yelp of pain.

"DOUSOJIN!" she cried, and suddenly the orb rippled. With an indigo flash, she felt a lurch as the spaceship flickered around them. Suddenly, she felt them drop, having no time to scream as her mind was engulfed in darkness.


	3. Emotions

_Pain. Pain. More pain_. He flexed his leg, and grumbled. _And, surprise...more pain. What in the name of Ares did I do to deserve this, _he thought groggily. It was a question that had too many answers.

"Welcome back to the Realm of the Living."

Rubeus slowly opened one eye, hearing Miera's voice. For a moment, he thought they were in pitch blackness, until he opened the other eye. A paniced thought went through his mind, and carefully he raised his aching arm, touching his face slightly. His skin felt like it was still on fire, and even the small movement sapped his strength, but it confirmed his fears. His left eye could see the small room there were in, and could see that it was daylight. The right eye saw only blackness...it was blind.

"What happened?" he whispered, throat dry and sore. Summoning what little energy he could, he tried to sit up, but whimpered as a stab of agony ripped through his body.

A soft hand touched his forehead, reaching from the now dark half of his vision. "You're badly injured...and you've been out like a light for two days. Please try to keep from moving. My healing magick can't work otherwise."

"Miera..." Rubeus murmured, tensing at her unexpected touch, and the flow of energy that rushed over his senses. "Why are you bothering..."

Minutes passed in a slow, nerve-grinding torture. Her hand never moved, and the soothing wave of cool energy at once relaxing and unsettling. With a sigh, he gave up resisting the healing work, and withing seconds the aching faded into dull, throbbing pain. He nearly wept with relief, and finally, her voice returned to him.

"I help those to who I am called. You may have been an enemy to the Sailor Senshi. But I follow no such rules...I never have."

"So then...you know who I am."

"As surely as I know myself, child of the Dark Moon," she said quietly.

Carefully, he turned his head so that he could see her. Her body glowed a soft blue, radiating from her chest and arm. A mixture of anger, defeat and awe came over him as he looked into her green eyes. They were unblinking, and if her focused, he could barely see a thin, white film over them. Images flashed through his memory...images that she had given to him.

_"Trust me," she said...How can I, when every Senshi I met only wanted my death...?_

A small smile crossed her face, but it was hollow. "As for what happened...I had used too much energy to teleport to the ship. When I tried to make the orb, it wouldn't go fast enough...and I couldn't form a sheild. A flaming peice of junk got thrown from an explosion, and though the psi field around us slowed it down, it still hit you rather hard...We finally teleported out, and here. I tried to heal you best as I could, with what little power I had left, but..."

They both fell silent, lost in thought. Miera's chest felt tight; he was the only one who knew her secrets, and he was a potential enemy...she cursed herself, and her sympathy. Too often it got her into trouble...and now she was housing a member of the Dark Moon family in her own home. The feeling of anger faded quickly as she felt his hand touch hers. What was he doing...?

_What am I doing, _he wondered half-heartedly, reaching out to her. _She's the enemy..._

"Thank you," Rubeus started hesitently, watching her expressions. "You risked your life for mine. And...that is both surprising, and appriciated. I...only hope that we may trust each other, in time."

Miera blinked slowly, her gaze unmoving from the far wall. "...I hope so, as well."

An emotion rippled through him, and Rubeus looked away. His balance between stability and insantiy was teetering enough already. Unconciously, his tumb gently stroked her hand as he cintemplated. Miera felt his touch, and her chest tightened again. Gods, the Fates were sadistic...

"You gave me images, of you," he said suddenly.

"Yes."

Ruebus heard the strangled tone in her voice, and realized what he was doing, quickly pulling his hand back to his side. "I...want to know what happened to you. Maybe...maybe then, I can make heads or tails of all this."

_He's just as lost as I am, _her mind sighed. _I don't know if I am blessed or cursed..._

"If you promise not to use it against me," Miera muttered lowly, as if she was speaking to herself.

"...I won't," he promised quietly, taken aback by her words.

"You see..." she began, so softly it was almost a whisper. "It all began, before I was even born..."


	4. Past, Part one: Merge

"_This body is not my own...I can say that, for I was not the first soul to inhabit this form. I can tell by the way you fall silent that this idea is strange to you. It is understandable; the people of Earth often fail to comprehend anything beyond their mundane existances, and that isn't a unique characteristic in the universe._

_My mother, Grace, and my father, Juuochi, were celebrating four years of marraige when she found out that she was a pregnant. It was a joyous time...children are such the gift, and to a happy couple, it's even more so. About seven months after they found out, during a regular check-up, the doctors brought to my mother the bad news: she was going to lose the baby._

_I'm sure it must have been a heavy blow. My father was a devout christian, and began to pray like crazy. My mother was not so zealous, but I could more than bet that she joined in every now and then. I could have told them that it wasn't needed...but I didn't wish to disturb their faith."_

Rubeus contemplated as she took a sip of tea from a nearby cup. "You speak as if you knew what was going on that whole time. How is that possible?"

Miera paused, holding her cup over the floor, then moving it slightly and setting it on the table. "Because at that time, I was not in my mother's womb. I was not the soul that was in that child's body."

"_Before your soul is reborn, it has the chance to decide where it wants to go. As with any plan, sometimes you are ill-prepared and sometimes you decide to cancel, much to the disappointment in others. The soul that inhabited the growing child inside my mother's womb was an incomplete, fractured soul, and decided that It was not ready to face the challanges that lie ahead for It. That is where I come in._

_I do not remember much of my life before I was born. Only enough to be able to tell you my tale. What I do know, was that this soul called to mine, and I answered. It was agreeded that a merging would take place, and that I would be the soul of this dying body. Needless to say, I myself didn't know quite what I was getting into...even so. I did what needed to be done, and took it into my own hands. My own soul absorbed that splintered soul-shard, and two months later my mother gave birth to the baby girl she had dreampt and prayed to have."_

"Does that mean there are no gods?" Rubeus asked, partially amused by this thought.

"I didn't say there aren't," she replied softly. "But I certainly didn't see anyone else rushing to answer their pleas."

His eyes wandered over to a set of pictures across the room. One picture was of a small girl, and her parents, standing beside a small jet liner. With a distinctly eerie feeling, he listened as she continued.

_"Of course...it seems that, one way or another...For my family, there was to be no happiness..."_

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**Dear Readers: **For the life of me. **PLEASE. **REVIEW! All you need is to type "yay" or "yuck." Write "A" or "F" or SOMETHING. I **CAN **read the hit counters, you know! I know you're reading this! -cries- So unless you want me to STOP writing this fic altogether, review. :P Thanks. 


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